La Chine sur la Lune en 2017 ?

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Sujet: La Chine sur la Lune en 2017 ? Sam 5 Nov 2005 - 13:29

China eyes 2017 moon landing

Friday, November 4, 2005 Posted: 1512 GMT (2312 HKT)

BEIJING, China (Reuters) -- China, which launched its first manned space mission just two years ago, plans to put a man on the moon around 2017 and investigate what may be the perfect source of fuel, a newspaper reported on Friday.

Two Chinese astronauts orbited Earth for five days last month in the Shenzhou VI and China was now developing new craft up to the Shenzhou X, eyeing a permanent space station and an eventual moon mission, state media said this week.

"China will make a manned moon landing at a proper time, around 2017," leading scientist Ouyang Ziyuan was quoted by the Southern Metropolis News as saying.

The project also includes setting up a moon-based astronomical telescope, measuring the thickness of the moon's soil and the amount of helium-3 on the moon -- an element some researchers say is a perfect, non-polluting fuel source.

Some scientists believe there is enough helium-3 on the moon to power the world for thousands of years.

"We will provide the most reliable report on helium-3 to mankind," Ouyang said.

The United States unveiled a $104 billion plan in September to return Americans to the moon by 2018. Its Apollo program carried the first humans to the moon in 1969.

China's first lunar orbiter could blast off as early as 2007, coinciding with its third manned space trip in which possibly three men would orbit Earth in Shenzhou VII and conduct a space walk.

China was designing a rocket that could carry a payload of 25 tons, up from a present limit of eight tons, the Beijing News reported this week, though it would unlikely be ready for another six-and-a-half years.

"There were many things wrong with this claim. The article originally appeared not in “state media,” but in a Chinese tabloid newspaper known—in China anyway—for its sensationalized reporting. The scientist who was quoted works on the Chinese robotic space program, not the human program, and was most likely misquoted. None of the Western reporters bothered to question the original news source nor the qualifications of the scientist who had supposedly made those remarks.

To observers of the Chinese space program and the way that the subject is reported and discussed in the West, it was a familiar story. Only one week before, a conference in Washington, DC on the Chinese space program featured a number of speakers who warned that the Western press—and even American government agencies—frequently quote Chinese media sources that have no credibility within their own country concerning claims made about the Chinese space program. Very few reporters or even government analysts bother to ask even basic questions, such as is the media source reputable, and is the person being quoted even in the proper position to know his subject. This is made even worse by the fact that Chinese media is exploding, with non-government newspapers and websites appearing every day. The resulting misunderstandings can have serious consequences, including resulting in misguided government policies."

_________________"The dinosaurs failed to survive due to the lack of a space program"Arthur C. Clarke